Franchise history

Team colors, logos, and mascot

Logos

The day after the NFL awarded the expansion team to Jacksonville, a triumphant Wayne Weaver held up the Jaguars' proposed silver helmet and teal jersey at the NFL owners' meeting in Chicago. The team's colors were to be teal, gold, and silver with black accents. However, this jersey and helmet design, with a gold leaping jaguar, created controversy. Ford Motor Company, then-parent of the automaker Jaguar, believed that the Jaguars' logo bore too much resemblance to the automaker's logo. Though no lawsuit was brought to trial, lawyers from the team and the automaker negotiated an ultimately amicable agreement whereby Jaguar would be named the official car of the Jaguars, and the Jaguars would redesign their uniforms.

The new logo was a snarling jaguar head with a teal tongue, which Weaver said was his wife's touch. He also claimed that the teal tongue came from "feeding Panthers to our Jaguars" — an obvious jab at their expansion brethren. During the Jaguars' first ever preseason game teal-colored candies were handed out to all the fans who attended, turning their tongues a teal color just like on the logo. Additionally, raspberry lollipops were handed out by the "Candy Man" in section 142 to also turn the home fans' tongues teal.

In 2009, Weaver announced that he wanted to 'clean up' the team's image. This meant the elimination of the full-body crawling Jaguar logo, the clawing Jaguar, and the two previous wordmarks which bent the text around these logos.

In February 2013, Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who had acquired the team in late 2011, introduced a new brand identity for the team that included a new logo, wordmark, and secondary logo. The new Jaguar head logo was intended to be "fiercer" and more realistic.[8] The secondary logo incorporated the new Jaguar head logo along with the first official usage of the team's popular nickname "Jags". The two images were encased in a shield-style shape, designed to be a tribute to Jacksonville's military community.[2]

Beginning in 2013, the Jaguars began to feature gold more prominently than in the past. In fact, from 2009–12 gold had only been used in the team logo and as a minor accent color.

Uniforms

For most of their history, the Jaguars have done what many other NFL teams located in subtropical climates traditionally practice: wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season — forcing opponents to wear their dark ones under the sweltering autumns in Jacksonville. The only exceptions were in 2004 and 2008–10, when the Jaguars chose to wear teal for all home games. In the preseason, the Jaguars typically wear teal at home since these games are played at night when there is very little advantage with the heat.

1995–2001

Following the logo change, the redesigned uniforms featured an all-black helmet, white pants with teal, black, and gold stripes, and numbers with gold inner trim and black outer trim. The home jersey was teal with white numbers and the away jersey was white with teal numbers. Both jerseys had a black collar and no sleeve stripes.

A prowling jaguar on each sleeve replaced the leaping jaguar going across both shoulders in the original design. The Jaguars in 1995 were the first NFL team to have 2-tone borders on their numbers and lettering, and the first NFL team to show a complex logo (the crawling Jaguar) on the sleeve.

Minor modifications were introduced to the Jaguars uniform during this time, most notably the font of the jersey numbers, replacing the original block numbers with a unique font. Two stripes were also added to the end of the sleeves below the prowling jaguar.

2002–2008

During this period, the Jaguars made minor changes to their uniform, each time adding more black to the look.

The team introduced a black alternate jersey in 2002. During that same year, the team also introduced alternate black pants, worn with either the white or the teal jersey. After the black pants were introduced, the white pants would only be seen for the first few games of the year, presumably due to the heat. The black pants originally included two teal stripes down each side. The fan reaction to the extra black in the alternate jersey and alternate pants was positive, so in 2004 the Jaguars went through a formal uniform change, which teams are only allowed to do once every five years. These changes were mostly to the away look. Before 2004, the white away jerseys had teal numbers with black and gold trim, but after, the white jerseys had black numbers with teal and gold trim. The black pants were also changed. The teal stripes were replaced with the Jaguar logo on each hip. Teal almost disappeared from the away uniform.

The stripes on the white pants were altered in 2008 so that the center, thickest stripe was black, and its accents were teal. In the 2008 year, the gold in the uniforms noticeably shifted from a bright yellow metallic appearance to more beige.

2009–2011

Jaguars home game in 2011.

The Jaguars unveiled new uniforms for the 2009 season. Team owner Wayne Weaver reportedly wanted to "clean up" the look, feeling that the team had too many uniform styles. The new uniforms were introduced in a press conference on April 22.[9]

At this press conference, Weaver elaborated that different people had taken different liberties with the Jaguars' image over the years, singling out the 'All Black' look which the team wore for every prime-time home game from 2003 to 2007 as a point of regret. He also said that the team would wear their teal jerseys at home even on hot days, saying that the practice of choosing to wear white on hot days had also diluted the team's image. The new uniform reflected a simpler look overall. The collar and sleeve ends are the same color as the rest of the jersey. The crawling jaguar was removed. The numbers on the jerseys were changed to a simpler, block font with a thicker, single color border. After all of these subtractions, two features were added. The first was a "JAGUARS" wordmark underneath the NFL insignia on the chest. The second was two thin 'stripes' of off-color fabric which were added to each midseam of the jersey, curling up to the neckline on the front and below the number on the back. The stripe on the home jersey is a white line next to a black line, matching the color of the numbers, and the stripe on the away jersey is a black line next to a teal line, again matching the numbers. The pants have similar stripes, both for the home and away uniform. The away uniforms were still black pants and numbers on a white jersey, but they now used teal as the only accent color as opposed to using gold in previous years. The Jaguars' identity, in terms of colors, beginning in 2009 is exclusively teal and black, with gold only being used in the logo. The final change made to the Jaguars' uniforms in 2009 was to the helmet. The new helmet and facemask were black just like the old ones, but when light hit the new ones a certain way, both the helmet and face mask sparkled with a shiny teal appearance. These were the first helmets in professional football which changed color with different angles of light. The logo and number decals also incorporated this effect.[10]

2012

Prior to the 2012 season, new Jaguars owner Shahid Khan announced that the team would once again use a black jersey, something they had not done since 2008. In September of that year, the team announced that it would use the black jersey and black pants as their primary home uniform. The teal jersey was resurrected as an alternate.[11]

2013–2017

On April 23, 2013, the Jaguars unveiled new uniforms designed by Nike. The primary home jersey is black with white numerals outlined in teal and gold. The road jersey is white with teal numerals outlined in black and gold, marking the first time since 2003 that the team has used teal numbers on their road jersey. The alternate jersey is teal with black numerals outlined in white and gold. The team had never before used black numbers on their teal jersey. All three jerseys feature a contrasting stripe that bends around the neck, and semi-glossy patches on the shoulders meant to resemble claw marks. The team added their new shield logo onto a patch just above the player's heart, meant to pay tribute to Jacksonville's military heritage.[12]

Jaguars home game in 2013.

The helmet, first of its kind in the NFL, featured a glossy gold finish in the back that fades to matte black in the front, via a color gradient.[13]

The new uniform set includes black and white pants with the Jaguars logo on the hip and a tri-color pattern down the player's leg.

In November 2015, as one of eight teams participating in Nike's "Color Rush" initiative for four games of Thursday Night Football during the 2015 season, Jacksonville introduced an all-gold second alternative uniform. The set features a gold jersey with black sleeves and black trim, as well as all gold pants. The white front and back numbers are lined in the teal accent color and bordered by black. The TV numbers on the shoulders are white with black bordering. The set also features gold undershirts and socks.[14]

2018–present

On April 19, 2018, the Jaguars again revealed re-designed uniforms. The new design returns to an all-black gloss helmet and removes many of the complicated details from the previous set. For the first time, there will be no borders at all on any of the jersey numbers. There are no stripes or team logo on the pants; only an NFL logo and a Nike logo, which is the first and only of its kind in the NFL. Like the 2009 uniform set, the only gold in the uniform set belongs to the Jaguar logo itself, and the block number font is not distinct from that used by other teams. The sleeve trim and collar trim are both a different color than the rest of the jersey, that and the solitary Jaguar logo are the only distinct markings on the jersey. For the first time, the sock has a teal stripe between the black and white. The black jersey is the primary, as it has been since 2012, and the teal is the alternate.[15][16]

Mascot

Since his introduction in 1996, Jaxson de Ville has served as the Jaguars' mascot. Jaxson entertains the crowd before and during games with his antics. The mascot has established a reputation for making dramatic entrances including bungee jumping off the stadium lights, sliding down a rope from the scoreboard, and parachuting into the stadium.

Jaxson's antics got him into trouble in 1998 and stemmed the changing of the NFL's mascot rules, and also caused him to calm down.[17] However, Jaxson was still seen, by some, as a mascot that gets in the way during the game. After the October 22, 2007 game against Indianapolis, Colts President Bill Polian complained to the NFL, and Jaxson was reprimanded again.[18][19]

Jaxson's first appearance was on August 18, 1996[20] and was played by Curtis Dvorak from his inception until his retirement in June 2015.[21]

Jacksonville Roar

The Jacksonville Roar is the professional cheerleading squad of the Jaguars. The group was established in 1995, the team's inaugural year, and regularly performs choreographed routines during the team's home contests.[22]

In addition to performing at games and pep rallies, members function as goodwillambassadors of the team, participating in corporate, community, and charitable events in the Jacksonville metropolitan area[23] where they sign autographs and pose for pictures. They also join NFL tours to entertain American servicemen and women around the world.[23][24]

Stadium

TIAA Bank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the world's largest scoreboards.

TIAA Bank Field (formerly known as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Alltel Stadium, and EverBank Field) is located on the north bank of the St. Johns River, and has been the home of the Jaguars since the team's first season in 1995. The stadium has a capacity of 69,132, with additional seating added during Florida–Georgia Game and the Gator Bowl.[25]

From 1995–97 and again from 2006–09, the stadium was named Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. From 1997–2006, the stadium was referred to as Alltel Stadium.[26] The naming rights were purchased by EverBank prior to the 2010 season.[27] Prior to the 2018 season the Jaguars announced the stadium would be renamed TIAA Bank Field.[28]

The stadium got a substantial upgrade in 2014 with the addition of new scoreboards, pools, cabana seating and premium seating that includes 180 field-level seats. The scoreboards are 60 feet (18 m) high and 362 feet (110 m) long. The new scoreboards at TIAA Bank Field are now the world's largest video boards. Two 25 feet (7.6 m) by 12 feet (3.7 m) pools were installed in the north end zone along with the cabana seating. The stadium upgrades were $63 million that owner Shahid Khan helped finance $20 million of the total cost.[29]

Players of note

Retired numbers

Pride of the Jaguars display in TIAA Bank Field.

Although not officially retired, the number 71 worn by offensive tackle Tony Boselli, the Jaguars' first-ever draft pick, has not been worn since his retirement in 2002.[34] According to team officials, while the number is not in circulation, the number (along with Fred Taylor's number 28) is officially available for use if the circumstances warrant it.[35]

Pride of the Jaguars

A contest was held in July 2006 to name the club's ring of honor as "Pride of the Jaguars" was chosen with 36% of the vote.[36] It was unveiled during the 2006 season during a game against the New York Jets on October 8. Former offensive tackle Tony Boselli was the first player inducted.

On January 1, 2012, team owner Wayne Weaver and his wife Delores were added to the Pride of the Jaguars in their final game before the sale of the team to Shahid Khan. On June 7, 2012 the Jaguars announced Fred Taylor would be the next inductee into the Pride of the Jaguars.[37] He was officially inducted on September 30, 2012. Longtime Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell was also inducted into the "Pride of the Jaguars" on December 15, 2013.[38] The most recent addition was WR Jimmy Smith, inducted in 2016.

Work in the community

The Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation was established in 1994, when the franchise deal was first announced.[39] Since then, the Foundation has given over $20 million to area efforts in community improvement.[40] The Foundation focuses on many initiatives, such as Honor Rows, anti-tobacco programs, NFL Play 60, and support for veterans.[41] The Foundation grants over $1 million annually to organizations that assist "economically and socially disadvantaged youth and families".[42]